The ARS Culture Collection is one of the largest public collections of microorganisms in the world, containing approximately 93,000 strains of bacteria and fungi. The collection is split into subcollections of molds, prokaryotes, and yeasts. In addition, the online catalog is searchable by genus, species, subvar type, and subspecies. The collection is housed within the Mycotoxin Prevention and Applied Microbiology Research Unit at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research in Peoria, Illinois. The scientists and staff of the ARS Culture Collection conduct and facilitate microbiological research that advances agricultural production, food safety, public health, and economic development. These goals are pursued through in-house research that improves understanding and utilization of microbiological diversity and through efforts to enhance the value and accessibility of microbial accessions in the Agricultural Research Service Culture Collection.

A portfolio page describing the microbial enhance coalbed systems project (MEC Systems), with project summary, description of experiments, and updates on publications and progress. For the general public.

The U.S. National Fungus Collections (BPI) are the “Smithsonian for fungi” and are the repository for over one million fungal specimens worldwide - the largest such collections in the world. The collection includes preserved organisms, their parts and products, and their associated data. Information associated with these specimens constitute an enormous data resource, especially about plant-associated fungi. The collections document fungi through time and space for the past 200 years. Data from the labels of more than 750,000 of the specimens have been entered into a database. These labels have information on the host on which the fungus was found and the locality in which the specimen was collected. Sixty percent of these specimens are from the United States and thus represent a large body of information about the fungi in this country. Data entry has been completed for the Uredinales (rusts), the Ustilaginales (smuts), the Polyporales (polypores), the Deuteromycetes (imperfect fungi), the Ascomycetes, and the C.G. Lloyd collections. Recent progress has been made in the computerization of specimens of the agarics and the "lower" fungi including the Oomycetes and Chytridiomycetes.